Hurricane Sandy hits land on the East Coast (photo essay)

October 29, 2012 7:55 PM

The National Hurricane Center confirmed that 'post-tropical cyclone' Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City. The storm now lacks a hurricane's rotation but still packs sustained 80 mph winds. In an effort to lessen damage from saltwater, New York City's main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions.

(30 total photos)

Share this story

Story tools

1 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayCaleb Lavoie, 17, of Dayton, Maine, front, and Curtis Huard, 16, of Arundel, Maine, leap out of the way as a large wave crashes over a seawall on the Atlantic Ocean during the early stages of Hurricane Sandy, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Kennebunk, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

2 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayNeighbors Don Schweikert, left, Mike Duvall, center, and Dave and Debbie Fitch, right, stand on the porches of their Victorian homes Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy continues toward landfall. The neighbors say they would not evacuate because theirs is the highest street in Cape May, N.J., and has never flooded. Sandy churned north Monday, raking ghost-town cities along the Northeast corridor with rain and wind gusts. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

3 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayA row of houses stands in floodwaters at Grassy Sound in North Wildwood, N.J., as Hurricane Sandy pounds the East Coast Monday Oct. 29, 2012. The powerful storm made the westward lurch and took dead aim at New Jersey and Delaware on Monday, washing away part of the Atlantic City boardwalk, putting the presidential campaign on hold and threatening to cripple Wall Street and the New York subway system with an epic surge of seawater. (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Dale Gerhard)

4 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayA few dozen people take refuge from Hurricane Sandy at a Red Cross shelter, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Deer Park, N.Y. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rainr u . (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Photo Essays continue below

5 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayPeople wade and paddle down a flooded street as Hurricane Sandy approaches, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Lindenhurst, N.Y. Gaining speed and power through the day, the storm knocked out electricity to more than 1 million people and figured to upend life for tens of millions more. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

6 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayMichael Wirtz, of Wilmington, Del., braves flood waters and high winds that arrive with Hurricane Sandy along North Michigan Avenue in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing for higher ground, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Michael Ein) MANDATORY CREDIT

7 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayA construction crane atop a $1.5 billion luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan dangles precariously after collapsing in high winds Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as a huge storm bore down on the city. Some nearby buildings including the Parker Meridien hotel, were evacuated as a precaution and the streets below were cleared around the nearly completed high-rise is known as One57, which is in one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods, near Carnegie Hall. (AP Photo/Verena Dobnik)

8 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayRay Bartling, a facilities manager for the Pier Shops at Ceaser's, looks over the rough surf in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing for higher ground, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

10 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayPeople brace against a gust from Hurricane Sandy in Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhood Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Residents of the neighborhood were ordered to evacuate because of the storm surge expected from the hurricane. Authorities warned that New York City and Long Island could get the worst of the storm surge: an 11-foot onslaught of seawater that could swamp lower areas of the city. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

11 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayA few pedestrians walk on a street with no vehicle traffic in Atlantic City, N.J., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing for higher ground, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

12 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayThis photo provided by 6abc Action News shows the Inlet section of Atlantic City, N.J., as Hurricane Sandy makes it approach, Monday Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy made landfall at 8 p.m. near Atlantic City, which was already mostly under water and saw a piece of its world-famous Boardwalk washed away earlier in the day. (AP Photo/6abc Action News, Dann Cuellar)

13 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayA news reporter stands in heavy rain as he waits to report live from battery park, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.ï¿½3 (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

14 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essaySea water floods the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.ï¿½ (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

15 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayStreets are flooded under the Manhattan Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

16 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayLower Manhattan goes dark during superstorm Sandy, on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as seen from the Brooklyn Heights promenade in the Brooklyn borough of New York. One World Trade Center, background center, remains brightly lit. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

17 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayFirefighters look up at the facade of a four-story building on 14th Street and 8th Avenue that collapsed onto the sidewalk Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Hurricane Sandy bore down on the Eastern Seaboard's largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds, soaking rain and a surging wall of water up to 11 feet tall. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

18 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayVehicles are submerged during a storm surge near the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Superstorm Sandy zeroed in on New York's waterfront with fierce rain and winds that shuttered most of the nation's largest city Monday, darkened the financial district and left a huge crane hanging off a luxury high-rise. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

19 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essaySea water floods the Ground Zero construction site, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

20 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayThe New York skyline remains dark Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, as seen from the Williamsburg neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York. In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network beneath the city's financial district, New York City's main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

21 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayVehicles are submerged on 14th Street near the Consolidated Edison power plant, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.Ü (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

22 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayFDNY inflatable boats travel along 14th street towards the East River on a rescue mission in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

23 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayIn this photo provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey a surveillance camera captures the PATH station in Hoboken, N.J., as it is flooded shortly before 9:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.Ü(AP Photo/Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

24 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayThis photo provided by Dylan Patrick shows flooding along the Westside Highway near the USS Intrepid as Sandy moves through the area Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 in New York. Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city's historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to nearly a million people. (AP Photo/Dylan Patrick) MANDATORY CREDIT: DYLAN PATRICK

25 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayThis photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat, submerged in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Sandy approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. The Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members by helicopter. Hours later, rescuers found one of the missing crew members, but she was unresponsive. They are still searching for the captain. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski)

26 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayCars pass through a darkened neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 in New York. Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city's historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

27 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayThis image from video provided by Dani Hart shows what appears to be a transformer exploding in lower Manhattan as seen from a building rooftop from the Navy Yard in Brooklyn during SandyÌs arrival in New York City. Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city's historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to nearly a million people. (AP Photo/Dani Hart)

28 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayMedical workers assist a patient into an ambulance during an evacuation of New York University's Tisch Hospital, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. The New York City hospital is moving out more than 200 patients after its backup generator failed when the power was knocked out by a superstorm. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

30 of 30Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essayThis photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, shows what appear to be transformers exploding after much of lower Manhattan lost power during hurricane Sandy in New York. Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city's historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to nearly a million people. (AP Photo/Karly Domb Sadof)